Quote Originally Posted by Fred View Post
Considering Trent's explanation of NTAE in the NIN.com interview, I would suggest that the three reversed TDS songs on the vinyl are meant to form sort of a prologue where we wind back to the point right after Eraser, where the protagonist screams "KILL ME!"

Instead of Reptile, where the protagonist internally lashes out at a former lover, we get Branches/Bones where "her branches are the bones that break." The protagonist kills her this time, but is also aware that something is amiss as it "feels like I've been here before."

What we subsequently get is an alternate, unrealized and more violent ending to the story of TDS. And to Trent's story. Remember he could have killed himself in 1999, and quite possibly earlier, but that's not how it went down. These are not the actual events.

It explains the Reptile lyrics on the PC as bits of the actual events "bleeding through," and it also sort of explains the impetus for using the Still artwork. Out of all the artwork Trent could have chosen, he went for the art of an EP recorded when he was arguably at his lowest point as an addict.
Makes sense. Considering the backwards tracks as a rollback, a few timelines could be made from it.

For example the rewind between NTAE and AV, just after thinking everything is fucked because of himself, he's in denial, it must be the world. We must go back, consider it differently. But then goes the loop of the Background World. And this time it's not a rewind, it's a dive into the truth.

But alternate events after eraser.. wow.